The Assassin's Seven Principles of Manipulation

Chapter 321: Chapter 316 — Bait

”...alright, let me see.”

Fiona had barely placed her hands on the shield when the forge door opened again, and several more bulky cadets came filing inside.

”Lady Fiona! These shields are fucking incredible!”

”Mine saved my ass today! I should be dead!”

”How the hell did you even make something this strong?!”

”Lady Fiona, mine got smashed! Fix it! Actually, make it stronger too!”

”Oi! Get in line! I was here first!”

”Bullshit! Lady Fiona looked at me first!”

”She spoke to me first! Me and Lady Fiona have a bond now!”

”A bond?! She told you to get in line, you fucking idiot!”

Praise quickly turned into arguments as the Hartvains began shoving past one another, each trying to get Fiona to repair or improve their shield first.

Fiona stood frozen in the middle of the commotion, looking from one excited face to another as though she couldn’t quite believe what was happening.

’They all came here... because they liked my shields?’

A moment later, her heartbreak momentarily forgotten, a bright smile slowly spread across Fiona’s face.

”It’s fine. I’ll do all of them.”

”Haa! Did you hear that?! Lady Fiona even sounds sweet!”

”Of course she does! A woman who makes divine shields obviously has a divine voice!”

”I’m marrying Lady Fiona! Then she can make shields only for me!”

”You?! She’d rather marry the fucking shield!”

”You’re one to talk, gorilla!”

Fiona couldn’t help but laugh as the argument immediately descended into another round of shouting. Still smiling, she began gathering the shields one after another, already examining the damage and thinking about how she could improve them.

The dullness that had filled her eyes only moments ago was gone. Now, they practically gleamed as she threw herself into her work.

Watching from the side, Zephyrion felt the tightness in his chest finally loosen.

Somehow, seeing her like this made him feel even lighter. At least now, she had something else to pour herself into, something of her own to look forward to.

As Zephyrion was slowly beginning to understand, perhaps this was the best he could do for those close to him.

As he left the forge, however, his thoughts inevitably drifted back to Fiona’s last words, causing his brows to furrow slightly.

’Lumi...’

Was he missing something? Something Fiona had somehow noticed that he hadn’t?

He’d already identified how Lumi felt about him and taken steps to address it. What else could there possibly be?

’That I like her romantically...?’ Zephyrion’s frown deepened. ’Ridiculous.’

If he had romantic feelings for someone, surely he, of all people, would be the first to know. There was no reason for Fiona to look at him with such certainty. And yet...

’Why did she look so damn sure?’

He didn’t like that.

”Hey.”

The voice didn’t startle him. He’d already sensed the presence waiting further down the hallway.

Kaiden stood at the other end, silently staring at him.

”Hey.”

”Got a minute? I want to talk to you.”

There was something strange in Kaiden’s eyes, something Zephyrion couldn’t remember seeing there before. He studied him for several seconds, trying to place exactly what it was, but eventually gave up.

”Sure.”

They moved through the fortress together, neither saying a word until they reached the top of the wall.

Standing side by side, they stared out over the vast plains stretching beyond the fortress, the cool night wind brushing against their skin.

Several moments passed before Zephyrion finally broke the silence.

”You did well today. Destroying the Bastion Core, I mean. Good job.”

To his surprise, Kaiden laughed.

”Seriously?” There was little amusement in the sound. ”I didn’t do shit. I was literally being dragged around like your personal puppet the entire time.”

Zephyrion immediately caught the anger and frustration beneath his voice.

”Still, without you, we wouldn’t have destroyed the Bastion Core or taken the northern fortress.”

”Yeah, you keep saying that, Zephyrion, but I think it’s bullshit.”

Kaiden finally turned toward him. There was still a smile on his face, but the intensity in his eyes made it clear that he found none of this amusing.

”You know what I think?”

”...what?”

”I think if I hadn’t been there, you would’ve just found another way to destroy that damn core. Hell, after everything you pulled today, I’m pretty sure you could’ve grabbed any idiot, stuffed that thing inside them, and gotten the same result.

”So what exactly did I do? Follow instructions? Get captured? Let you move my body around for me? There was nothing special about any of it.”

He paused for a moment before shaking his head.

”No... it was pathetic.”

”Yo—”

”You know...” Kaiden slowly clenched his fist, cutting him off before he could respond. ”When the northerners caught me, I was fucking furious. I kept thinking about how badly I screwed up, how I failed the mission and probably ruined whatever plan you had.

”But you know what hurt even more? Finding out you never trusted me to succeed in the first place. That metal you put inside me... you didn’t put it there just in case, did you? You put it there because you were already expecting me to fail.”

”It was just a possibility—”

”Bullcrap.” Kaiden’s grin widened, though there was no amusement behind it. ”Come on, Zephyrion. I’ve been around you long enough to know you don’t do anything ’just in case.’ There’s always a reason. Always some fucking plan behind the plan. And I’m not an idiot, you know. Even if you apparently think I am.”

After the Bastion Core exploded, Kaiden had tried to make sense of everything. At first, he’d assumed Zephyrion had simply been his usual paranoid self, preparing for the worst because apparently trusting anything to go according to plan was beyond him.

But then he’d heard Zephyrion reveal that he already knew Malach was being assisted by his House Commander, and everything had fallen into place.

”Malach knew the code you gave me. A code only you and I were supposed to know. So someone on our side was feeding him information, someone besides their House Commander. And if you already knew about the House Commander... then knowing you, there was no fucking way you didn’t suspect the other one too.”